Euro 2016 – Will France Win It ?

The European Championship is coming this Summer and France is hosting it for third time since its introduction in 1960. It has won it twice in the past (1984 at home and 2000 in Belgium/The Netherlands). Both times, the squad was led with legends as Michel Platini in 1984 and Zinedine Zidane in 2000. Nowadays, a young French team led by a natural born leader and trophy laden player, Didier Deschamps, hopes to finally get back to winning ways after about a decade of difficulties coinciding with the retirement of Zidane in 2006 after the FIFA World Cup Final.

This time, it appears that that France is not only loaded with talent but are angry to put e past behind them and make the most out their oppportunity at home. That could potentially culminate in lifting the trophy for a record third time (along with Germany and Spain). Players such as Paul Pogba (Juventus FC), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid CF), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspurs), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid), the return of former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra (Olympique Marseille), Blaise Matuidi (Paris-SG), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal FC), Patrice Evra (Juventus FC), Anthony Martial (Manchester United FC) and a few others will constitute the backbone of a team that the French supporters hope will lead them to silverware on July 10th, when the final will kick-off.

Other countries will have their say in France…

Spain is the current title holder and after a disastrous World Cup compaign which saw them being humiliated by The Netherlands 5-1 and then eliminated by Chile 2-0, they would want to prove that this page of their history was simply an accident. Despite losing key players to retirement such as Xavi, David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Carlos Puyol.

Germany. The current FIFA World Cup holders will be looking at making the double in France (World Cup and Euro back-to-back). A few key players have left the national squad though such as Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich FC) and Miroslav Klose (SS Lazio). They can still bank on tremendous talent such as Marco Reus, Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich FC), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich FC), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich FC), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich FC), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), to name a few. Will it be enough for “Die Mannschaft”? We shall see.

Countries such as Italy, England, Portugal can never be underestimated in international competititons and squads as Czech Republic, Turkey and Croatia can always surprise. But if a country has to be taken very seriously this summer, it has to be Belgium. I would not be surprised if this is the national team that surprises France and wins their first European Championship. The squad is simply full with top talent in almost several positions of the field/pitch. Thibault Courtois (Chelsea FC), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City FC), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City FC),Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United FC), Dries Merterns (SSC Napoli), Axel Witsel (Zenit Saint Petersburg), Romelu Lukaku (Everton FC), Radja Nainggolan (AS Roma) etc. A very impressive list of fine players who just might be ready,in time, to lift a trophy and create history.